Category Archives: WWOOFing

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Probably my favourite thing about my current job is when I first get into a room to clean it, I do a quick walk around and check for left behind items. They are set aside for a couple days in the event that the person comes back to claim them, but most time they are left for good so the motel owners/me get to keep them. So far, I have found:

Money (10 and 20 cent pieces, nothing special).

Freezer bricks / ice bricks – probably the most commonly left thing. Easily forgotten once you put them in the fridge. I’ve found about a dozen so far! I’ve kept the two largest for myself, useful things if I ever get a cooler

Feminine Hygiene products

Butter/Margarine (probably don’t need to buy any for the next 9 months)

Cheese

Crackers

Canned fruit

Bread

Movie pass

And my favourite…ice cream bars! I’ve found these twice now, and they are always a treat. YUM!

Unfortunately, I was inside working. Clear blue skies were spotted for the first time in 2 weeks, so the owners of the motel took off for the mountain (both are avid snowboarders) shortly after the slopes opened at 9am, leaving me in charge. Being a Monday, the motel was quiet, with only 2 rooms needing work. Since I had all morning to myself, I decided to take my camera along on the journey.

I’m starting to reach the point of work related exhaustion I think. The place I’m staying now is very pleasant in the house, and the work isn’t bad by any means, but 5-6 hours in the sun each day now, and I’m starting to feel things take it’s toll. Not to say the work so much, just the lack of a break – it’s 7 days a week the way I’ve been going, and I haven’t had a good, long stay of being a ‘tourist’ in quite some time now. Since the Bay of Islands actually. So when my work stay here is up, I’ll be heading south to Napier and staying in a hostel once again, this time for a week in just a single place. It will allow me to recharge, see the sights of an Art-Deco town, and also, catch a Rugby World Cup game featuring Canada!

Speaking of the RWC, Canada played their first game last night – AND WON! They beat the small island nation of Tonga – and it was quite the upset. Canada pulled off a great come from behind victory, and that sets them up well to acheive their goals of not being dead last in their pool!

Posts will hopefully be back to normal now (got my main East-Cape journey one up below, finally!), since I should be getting caught up on numerous emails and everything else tonight. My host doesn’t offer internet (the first one that hasn’t), so that’s hampered my online abilities a bit, but I can manage. For now, it’s dinner time!

3 days, nearly 10 hours of work, several kilometers worth of vines cut and 100s of chokos later, I’ve finished the task of eradicating the vast majority of the choko infestation. It was the first job I’ve done that actually got me to break a sweat. Not that I minded though, it was actually very fun – you can see the machete like implement in my right hand (it’s curved saw blade) – it’s what I used to cut through all the vines and trees. Since they were very much dead and brittle, it made for a very satisfying display of carnage when chopping through the vines. I figure by the end of it, I’ve probably cleared over 500 chokos. They will be burnt in a sacrificial fire later, unfortunately after I leave. Next up, window washing, in other words, fun with ladders and spiders. The ladder part doesn’t bother me, the spider part does.

When WWOOFing, the host provides you with all the needed tools/equipment to do the job. So that ranges from pruning shears, shovels, baskets, rakes, or whatever else might be required to do work. That often includes gloves, especially when working outside. Much like most people’s houses, these gloves are often various sizes and various states of decay. My hosts have all provided the gloves necessary, and they’ve done the job, but it’s something I figured I might want to look into myself. 10 minutes and $8 later, I found a pair I really really liked:

Protects my hands, water resistant and rubberized grip, much better tactile feedback and maneuverability AND I look good while wearing them. What’s not to like? Once I had finished the pressure washing, they came in VERY handy.

Before I get talking about my adventure to the market today, I’ll play show and tell about my work during my stay here. While I did various odd jobs such as fruit picking (including climbing an avocado tree – something it turns out I’m not overly good at), fire wood collecting/carting, fruit cleaning, cookie baking and other odds and ends, the majority of my time was spent in here – the raspberry enclosure. This is how it looked before I started:

And after about 3 days of work, the weeds were removed, the ground was cleaned and the raspberry bushes were pruned.